The present invention relates to a surface treatment agent which imparts a superior soil release property, even after dry cleaning, to a substrate to be treated, such as a textile and has a high residence.
Hitherto, various soil release treatment agents are suggested in order to impart water repellency, oil repellency and soil releasability to textiles (for example, carpets). JP-B-48-8606 discloses that the soil release property is imparted by treating fibers with a homopolymer prepared by polymerizing an unsaturated carboxylate ester having perfluoroalkyl groups at both ends. However, the soil release property imparted by this homopolymer is insufficient.
JP-B-51-3767 discloses that water repellency and oil repellency are imparted to fibers by treating fibers with a polymer prepared by copolymerizing (i) a maleate or fumarate ester having a perfluoroalkyl group at one end and having an aliphatic or aromatic group free from a fluorine atom at other end and (ii) another polymerizable unsaturated compound. Because one of end groups of the maleate or fumarate ester is free from a fluorine atom, the polymerizability is good. However, the water- and oil-repellency and the soil release property imparted by this polymer are insufficient.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,594,353 discloses that water repellency and soil release property against oil are imparted to fibers by treating fibers with a polymer prepared by homopolymerizing an itaconate ester having a perfluoroalkyl group at both ends or one end or by copolymerizing the itaconate ester with another polymerizable unsaturated compound. However, the water- and oil-repellency and the soil release property imparted by this polymer are insufficient.
J. Applied Polymer Science, 65 (12), 2387 (1997) discloses that the water repellency and the glass protection are imparted by providing a hydrophobic inorganic-organic hybrid material thin film on a glass plate. However, the water- and oil-repellency and the soil release property of this hybrid material are insufficient.
None of conventionally proposed soil release agents has sufficient water- and oil-repellency, soil releasability and cleaning durability.
Initial water- and oil-repellency and soil releasability, immediately after the treatment, of carpets treated with the above conventional methods are superior to those of untreated carpets. However, the initial water- and oil-repellency and soil releasability of the treated carpets are insufficient and, additionally, the cleaning durability of the treated carpets is insufficient.
An object of the present invention is to provide a treatment agent (for example, a treatment agent for carpet) which imparts durability maintaining sufficient water repellency, oil repellency and soil releasability before and after cleaning.
The present invention provides a surface treatment agent, wherein, when a fiber is treated with the surface treatment agent, the treated fiber has following characteristics (1) to (3):
(1) in a soil release test, a numerical value, after cleaning, of soil release rate shown in the following equation is at least 30%,
Soil release rate (%)=100xc3x97(xcex94ENxe2x88x92xcex94ETn)/xcex94EN
xcex94EN: Color difference of untreated carpet after soil release test,
xcex94ETn: Color difference of carpet treated with the surface treatment agent after soil release test (n: number of cleaning (n is an integer of 1 to 20)),
(2) in a surface analysis of a coating film by an IR-ATR method, a numerical value of a residual rate, after cleaning, of the surface treatment agent shown in the following equation is at least 10%,
Residual rate (%)=100xc3x97(A2/A1)
A1: IR intensity ratio before cleaning,
A2: IR intensity ratio after cleaning, and
(3) a Knoop hardness (KH) of the surface treatment agent is at least 5.
The present invention provides a surface treatment agent comprising;
(A) a metal alkoxide, and
(B) a polymer comprising
(B-i) a monomer having a carbon-carbon double bond and a metal alkoxide group,
(B-ii) a fluorine-free (meth)acrylic acid derivative monomer, and
(B-iii) a fluorine-containing compound having a functional group reactive with the metal alkoxide, or
(B-iv) a fluorine-containing monomer having a carbon-carbon double bond.
Furthermore, the present invention provides a surface treatment agent comprising;
(A) a metal alkoxide, and
(C) a polymer comprising
(C-i) a fluorine-free (meth)acrylic acid derivative monomer, and
(C-ii) a fluorine-containing monomer having a carbon-carbon double bond.
Additionally, the present invention provides a surface treatment agent comprising;
(A) a metal alkoxide,
(D) a polymer comprising
(D-i) a fluorine-free (meth)acrylic acid derivative monomer, and
(E) a fluorine-containing compound having a functional group reactive with the metal alkoxide.